India and the United States are embarking on a new phase of strategic defense cooperation under a framework that promises to transform bilateral military ties and reshape the Indo-Pacific security landscape. Among the key initiatives under the decade-long agreement: coproduction of fighter jet engines in India and New Delhi’s acquisition of U.S.-made armed drones.
The framework, signed in late October 2025 by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, “will provide policy direction to the entire spectrum of the India-U.S. defence relationship,” India’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) stated.
The agreement includes joint cybersecurity initiatives, advanced technology coproduction and other industrial collaboration. It will “build upon the mutually beneficial partnership across all its pillars” by promoting joint development of critical defense technologies, the MOD said.
Indian manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and General Electric (GE) will coproduce the U.S.-based company’s F414 turbofan engines under a technology transfer agreement. The engines are slated for the Indian Air Force’s domestically developed Tejas Mk-2 combat aircraft, part of an initiative to enhance the country’s aerospace manufacturing ecosystem.
“It is a significant milestone in India-U.S. relations, particularly given how stringent U.S. technology controls are,” Dinakar Peri, a fellow at Carnegie India’s Security Studies program, told FORUM.
India recently ordered 113 GE engines over five years beginning in 2027. That followed a 2021 agreement for 99 engines.
“Fifteen to 20 years from now, there will be close to 400 fighter jets, mostly single-engine and some twin-engine, with an American engine at the heart,” Peri said. “That constitutes over half of the sanctioned fighter squadron strength of the Indian Air Force. … This association is going to go for several decades and will be an anchor for the relationship.”
India also is procuring 31 MQ-9B uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) — 15 SeaGuardians for the Navy, and 16 SkyGuardians split between the Air Force and the Army. The drones will greatly expand India’s surveillance and strike capabilities, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.
“The MQ-9B is designed to fly over the horizon via satellite for up to 40 hours and will be a huge capability boost for the Indian military for persistent surveillance,” Peri noted, adding that the UAVs enable “quick intervention required in piracy [and] trafficking incidents” and will free up crewed platforms such as the Indian Navy’s P-8I aircraft.
He said the drones will integrate with other U.S.-origin platforms used by the Indian Armed Forces, including Apache and MH-60R helicopters, boosting interoperability — a core objective of the 10-year pact.
The India-U.S. agreement is seen as advancing “regional stability, deterrence, information sharing and technology cooperation,” especially as geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific accelerates, according to analysts with the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. It also supports India’s transition to domestic defense manufacturing and away from its traditional reliance on Russian arms imports.
The framework marks a pivotal moment in the India-U.S. defense and security relationship “at a time when battlespace requirements, technologies and the nature of warfare are evolving at breakneck speed,” the analysts wrote in November 2025.